What Employees Really Want

“To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.”

Doug Conant, Campbell’s Soup CEO

Our Employee satisfaction survey told us that 2016 will be a critical year when it comes to attracting and engaging existing employees, but many companies are still slow to address the challenges ahead. Research shows that organisations with high levels of employee engagement have a lower staff turnover, are more efficient and effective, and that highly engaged employees:

– are more customer focused, find they are more creative at work, and take less time off sick;

– care about the future of their organisation and put in greater effort to help it meet its objectives;

– feel proud of the organisation they work for and are inspired to do their best and motivated to deliver the organisation’s objectives. EngageforSuccess

Despite the decision for Brexit, many of our clients are still optimistic about the future and continue to focus on growth, with the majority looking to increase staff headcount. Retaining the best people is also critical and companies are having to think carefully about their retention strategies and consider how to increase employee engagement. It’s not about how happy or satisfied an employee is, but it is about the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.

When employees are engaged they use discretionary effort, they work not just for themselves but also for an organisations’ goals. An engaged team of workers is key to activating high performance.

Here are the results of our findings which show what employees feel their companies should and could do better to engage their employees.

What could your current employer do to improve employee retention?

Employees wanted more financial investment into their training and development. This wasn’t just to better their own skill set, but they felt this would benefit their employer and help their company in the long term. They wanted more financial benefits either money or company incentives.

For a large proportion (over 53%) pay was not being linked to performance or achievements. This discouraged “out of box” thinking or the desire to do more for the business as a whole. Regular performance reviews were also in the top 3. When linked to clear goals and activity (either individually or collectively or both), reviews can encourage people to work towards the same business objectives and become more successful.